Category Archives: Bailout

Andrew Vegetabile, Director of the Litecoin Association, came out against a fork of Ethereum/The DAO, Decrying interference with The DAO by outside crypto developers in an open letter to “Vitalik Buterin, The DAO, future smart contract developers, and the throngs of individuals within the crypto ecosystem” today.

Andrew Vegetabile Calls Buterin’s Intervention “Unprecedented”

He Cites the widespread negative impact outside of The DAO as significant disincentive:

“…now Ethereum is having to face this very situation. From legal to sociological effects, the direction the leadership of a coin takes can have long outstanding impacts not only to the specific coin, but also to the entire crypto ecosystem by setting a dangerous precedent.”

He calls Buterin’s involvement in affecting an outcome to The DAO attack “unprecedented” and draws parallels to the bank bailouts of 2008 financial crisis due to the central nature of the intervention. This may seem an extreme comparison, but he isn’t far off here, unfortunately:

“Never in the history of crypto for as far as I can remember has a developer been intimately involved with a third party application in attempting to resolve said applications issues. The best analogy that I can think of at this point is if there was a bug in counterparty code and the Bitcoin core devs got involved.”

Buterin, unlike Satoshi, is a known entity in the crypto community, and the degree of influence he has over the Ethereum community leads to frequent comparisons of his role to that of a “benevolent dictator.” His mention of a soft fork to “fix” The DAO attack has been overwhelmingly accepted by people with a stake in ETH and The DAO, while other, less invasive solutions have fallen by the wayside.

It is clear that Vegetabile wants the takeaway to be that central intervention is antithetical to the core concepts that make Ethereum and other Cryptocurrencies successful. Furthermore, he posits that the outcome of the DAO attack will not be isolated to Ethereum and smart-contracts.

“My word of advice to all of you is to do absolutely nothing at all.”

Vegetabile is also very careful to keep his statements reasoned and civil. It comes off as a level-headed, honest word of warning rather than a vitriolic attack on a competing cryptocurrency. The DAO’s failure will affect the entire cryptocurrency market, after all, and the handling of its consequences by Ethereum and DAO participants will shape how smart contracts and Crypto will be treated by investors, developers, and in court moving forward.

How do you think The DAO’s failures should be handled? Leave your thoughts in the Comments below!

For some countries around the world, times are very tough as local economies are starting to fall apart. Ukraine is one of those countries, as inflation will be hitting a record-high of 44 percent later this year. Combine that number with a near 25-percent inflation, and anyone can see why the Ukraine economy needs a bailout. At the same time, Ukraine’s central bank is warning people about the use of Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Ukraine Economy Collapses After Conflict With Russia

There are several factors to blame for the collapse of Ukraine’s economy, although the biggest culprit comes in the form of a conflict with Russia. On top of that, the Ukraine economy is plagued by capital controls, making it all but impossible to move funds in and out of the country altogether.

With inflation hitting a whopping 44 percent, the situation in Ukraine is more than dire right now. Prices for goods and services have been soaring due to the Hryvnia losing a fair share of its original value, and consumers are faced with less purchasing power. Considering Ukraine was already subject to nearly 25% inflation back in 2014, things have not improved at all over the past twelve months.

But it looks like help is on the way, as capital controls will be lifted gradually in the coming months. Thanks to bail-out cash from international lenders, the Ukraine economy will survive, and hopefully be able to reduce its inflation rate to 5 percent by the end of 2019. In total, US$9bn in rescue cash will be coming to the Ukraine economy in the near future.

As one would come to expect, that money has to come from somewhere. The International Monetary Fund (US$4.5bn), the European Union (US$1.5bn) and a loan guarantee from the US (US$1bn) are pooling together the necessary funds to give Ukraine’s economy a chance to recover in the next few years.

Time For Plan Bitcoin?

Similar to most central banks all over the world, Ukraine’s central bank is not too keen on Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Just a few months ago, a warning was issued regarding the dangers of Bitcoin, and consumers were advised to steer away from this type of currency as it is not controlled or guaranteed by the central bank.

At the same time, residents of the country have been struggling to make ends meet for quite some time now. With tight capital controls in place, there are very little options at the disposal of Ukrainians who want to safeguard some of their wealth from further economical demise. Bitcoin provides them with that option, despite warnings by the central bank. Plus, a new Bitcoin exchange will be launching in the country very soon.

What are your thoughts on the economic situation in Ukraine? Will Bitcoin provide a solution to the turmoil? Let us know in the comments below!

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From November 19 to 21, 2018, the key event of the year in the Ukrainian energy sector, the Ukrainian Energy Week ’18, will take place in the NSC “Olimpiyskiy”. Here will meet the most influential representatives of national and foreign … Continue reading →

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From November 19 to 21, 2018, the key event of the year in the Ukrainian energy sector, the Ukrainian Energy Week ’18, will take place in the NSC “Olimpiyskiy”. Here will meet the most influential representatives of national and foreign … Continue reading →

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